Risk management is an art

As technology advances and young talent become more enterprising, startups are becoming the face of the future.

Starting a business isn’t easy and sustaining it is even harder. There are many risk factors associated with startup ventures and key guidelines that need to be followed in order to enjoy a profitable and successful business.

If you analyse and understand the risks involved and the mistakes which are likely to be commonly done, it would be rather easy for you to drive a secure and successful business.

Major reasons why startups tend to fail

Lack of demand in the market
While an innovative idea may seem interesting or fruitful to a business owner, it isn’t the case from the business perspective. The demand for that business may not be that high in the market, meaning that the startup would most likely experience a lacklustre performance.

There are chances of the business existing in abundance already or not needed at all. In either of this case, there will be no market for that business and causes the startup to fare poorly.

Misuse of funds
In a bid to prove that their startup idea is worth it, business owners tend to mismanage their funds, not looking at the after effects.

Every business owner has finances but what they need is a smart and cautious management of their finances. This is one area which becomes a root cause for failed startups. Only having money isn’t enough, putting it to its best use is important.

Managing a diverse team structure
Startups will need a multi-faceted team structure, possessing skills in diverse technologies and project management areas.

Generally, it is noted that startup business owners do not have that in-depth vision of building a collaborative team right from the beginning that is self-sufficient in terms of skills, technological knowledge and project management methods.

Even fundamental technical expertise is needed for owners to better judge the entire business scenario in the best possible way.

Offering equity to too many team members
When the startup is new, business owners tend to involve many equity shareholders in order to make the venture cash rich.

Although it might sound right at that time, it tends to get unmanageable and becomes one of the prime reasons for startup failure. Even having too many team members could lead to haphazard business functioning.

Also Read: Big Idea Ventures gets first close of US$50M+ New Protein Fund, invests in Shiok Meat

Feeble marketing strategies
After all, marketing is the key to reach out to widespread audiences. Startups need to have their marketing policies in place well in advance else they are bound to bear the brunt of it.

In this fiercely competitive world, without enough and well-planned marketing plans, there are fewer chances of business expanding far and wide.

Risk areas startup entrepreneurs faces

1. No startup offers a stable income right from the start. Entrepreneurs must be well prepared for an uneven way of income for the first few months. What is important is to sustain your business amidst throat cut competition rather than wanting a steady income.

2. Startup ventures need to be careful about competition and disruption both. Though both are inevitable and play a significant risk role in the success of any startup business, what entrepreneurs must do is keep aware of these from the beginning, to avoid its negative impact.

3. Undefined variations in the global currency could lead to a huge risk. With globalisation as the latest jargon today, entrepreneurs need to be careful while engaging in any kind of financial exchange either as a supplier or as a receiver.

4. Leaking your confidential information is yet another risk area that could create hassles. Cybersecurity is a prime area of concern for startup business owners. There is so much private information (company and self) involved that its security plays a very important role. Compromising on security could lead to disastrous results in terms of productivity, profitability and customer satisfaction.

5. Shelling out your own private finance for your startup to start off, is yet another big risk area. At the start, entrepreneurs may need to do that but what is required is enough thought to the point that if that finance is used up in business, there is nothing to fall back, on our personal front.

Key approaches for a successful startup

Have a complete focus on designing and developing the product
While indulging in any startup venture, the prime factor is the startup product itself. There should be a complete undivided focus on that, by the business owners and their teams. Thinking about other important areas like marketing, sales, finance, etc. should be done later so that there is no compromise of quality in the product build. This ensures utmost quality and standardisation, offering more chances to a successful venture.

Start off with a small base and large vision
What startups usually do is have a large end focus and planning right from the beginning. They tend to forget that they are in the startup phase. What should be done is that business owners should take small and steady steps in the start towards building a small stable and secure startup. Once that is established, there are ample of opportunities for building it big with fewer risks and more fundamental stability involved.

Perform in-depth analysis from information available
Be it risk assessment, predictive analytics, trend forecasting, etc., there are many areas that can be scrutinized in detail for better futuristic moves. There are many advanced tools available to help extract the best of information from the huge chunks of data, in your desired format. Make the most of BI and Big Data for the same.

Be a wise trend follower and grab foreseeable opportunities
As opportunities knock the door, it is very important for startup authorities to keep a close eye on them and grab them as soon as they are encountered. Of course, with a full proof thought to its repercussions, these opportunities could change the face of the business for the better. To grab these chances, startups should devote a sector of time and energy in observing and following trends in the market and understand the prevailing market scenario. They should also study the predictive future analytics to perceive what could come next.

Keep replicating success factors as the startup flourishes and grows
When a startup venture succeeds, there are certainly promising and basic success factors attached to it, that lead to its success. Once the startup is grounded and in place, business owners should purposefully try to replicate these success factors for a business to come and thereby stay grounded to the fundamental vision of the business. This set of success criteria should always be remembered and deployed in upcoming actions to be taken.

Embrace automation wherever you can
The year has seen many advancements in automation and the coming year will show many more. To stay abreast with today’s business norms, automation, wherever possible is a must. Startups need to evaluate, analyze and adapt to automation processes in whichever areas it can. This will not only increase efficiency, profitability but also ensure a cutting-edge business involvement.

Spend more time, money and energy into skilled expertise
After all, the crux of success for any startup venture is the quality that it delivers. This is possible only if there is a skilled and proficient team available to deliver the same. Good quality resources will garner successful business and will keep continuing to give good fruits as compared to efforts put.

Calculated risks are a must
As such, risk management is an art. No business can kick off without taking any risks, startups are no exception. But, yes, risks taken must be ascertained, calculated and analyzed before plunging into them. Risks would help individuals come up with innovative ideas, enhance creativity, increase productivity and thereby augment RoI for the startup venture.

Understand your client portfolio in advance
While building your startup venture, it is important to understand the client’s needs, perception, and aspiration. This forms a pillar of success for the business.

Until the customer requirements are understood in depth, it is not possible to build a solution that works as per their needs.

Create the right balance between time, money and effort
Among the three major parameters that are important for any business, it is critical to strike a balance between time, money and efforts, in order to come up with the best of results. Any of them, going haywire in proportion, will lead to an imbalance in the charted project plan.

Also Read: Singapore startup scene should view next decade with cautious optimism

A parting note

Here you go, with the startup industry’s key risk areas, best practices and reasons for failure. Owning your own business is always an exciting, challenging and tough task. With multiple types of startups cropping up every year, the parameters to be ascertained also change year by year.

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By securing spotlight sessions for Taiwan startup partners, AsiaIOA can support them to better expand to Southeast Asian markets and gain brand awareness

Echelon is all about making meaningful connections across the Southeast Asia startup ecosystem and beyond. We are thus proud to share that e27 has partnered with AsiaIOA, with a highlight on the TOP100 Fight Club, part of Echelon Asia Summit 2019, happening on May 23-24 in Singapore.

Formally launched in 2018, AsiaIOA is a Taiwan-based service-provider for institutions of higher learning, corporate accelerators, and government innovation agencies, focused on connecting startup ecosystems between East Asia and Southeast Asia. This is done through offline events management, programme curation, and startup mentoring.

“Though newly founded in 2018, the team has had at least 10 years experience in the East Asia startup ecosystem with a deep dive in Taiwan,” says Kevin Ho, Co-Founder and CEO of AsiaIOA. “We would like to take this opportunity to expand into the local Southeast Asia startup ecosystem while working with e27 and Echelon to showcase our capabilities and startups to the regional attendees.”

Kevin adds that shared values have contributed greatly to furthering this partnership. “We’ve been working with e27 for almost two years, and since then we’ve known the values that e27, as a Southeast Asia-based online and offline startup platform, can provide.”

The official partnership begins in 2019 with a Memorandum of Understanding between e27 and AsiaIOA to further the collaboration at events, including Echelon Roadshow, TOP100, and Echelon Asia Summit. “It will be a good initiative to kickoff this partnership by providing our startup partners from Taiwan with the pitching and showcasing opportunities,” Kevin adds.

Also read: 5G Technology: how Taiwan’s APTG Accelerator Programme is approaching the future of tech

According to Kevin, Taiwanese startups are good at product and technology development. “However, little do they know how to market and promote themselves on an international stage.”

“We hope that via securing these spotlight sessions for our Taiwan startup partners, we can support them to better expand to Southeast Asian markets and gain media eyeballs to raise brand awareness,” Kevin concludes.

Set for May 23 to 24 at Singapore EXPO, Echelon Asia summit is at full force, bringing together the region’s startup ecosystem in two days of rich discussions, mentoring, networking, and deal-making. Register now for your tickets.

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mfine, which uses AI to enable users to link with doctors through live chat or video under a minute, has just bagged US$17.2M from Japanese and SEA investors

India-based mfine, an app that lets users link with doctors through live chat or video under a minute, has just bagged US$17.2 million in fresh investment, led by SBI Investment, the VC arm of Japan’s SBI Group, with participation from new and existing investors, including Singapore’s SBI Ven Capital and Beenext.

The healthtech startup, founded in 2017 by Myntra Co-founder Ashutosh Lawania and former CBO Prasad Kompalli, follows the model of partnering with hospitals instead of aggregating individual doctors on its platform. mfine, which delivers an AI-driven, on-demand healthcare service, will use the money to expand its hospital network across India.

e27 talked to Kompalli to know more about the company, its investments, local market and future plans.

How does mfine aim to transform the healthcare delivery model in India using technology?

mfine provides an Artificial Intelligence-driven, mobile-first platform which is used by patients to find doctors from our large network of hospitals. Consumers find it more convenient to consult with doctors through our chat and video interface. Our AI engine is capable of diagnosing and triaging over 1,200 common diseases, reading hundreds of health parameters in the diagnostic reports thus saving significant time for the doctors.

Why is the current round important and what do these investors bring to the table?

In the last year and a half, we have built a strong network through our partner hospitals. We have managed to reach towns and villages even we had never heard of. This round of funding comes at a great time, when we need to push our own limits and try to reach more patients and onboard more doctors. Our investors have come onboard as strategic partners, and with their help we can build India’s largest healthcare network.

Health-tech in India as an industry has witnessed a massive growth over the past few years. However, it has not really taken off in smaller cities and towns. Why is it so? Also companies like mfine are mostly catering to the educated population…

Technology is the right way to cut across economic segments and geographical boundaries in delivery better healthcare. As the technology penetration like smartphones and cheaper bandwidth is rapidly increasing, there is a bigger and better opportunity now than before to take services like mfine across the length and breadth of the country.

Also Read: Fully integrating AI and healthcare is closer than you think

At mfine, over the next three to four years, we will be developing solutions that are intuitive for the the user and also support all interaction paradigms (audio, video and text ) and multi-language support to ensure quality healthcare is accessible for all segments.

AI has the potential to drastically change the healthcare industry in India. But it has not really happened yet. Do you expect this to change in the near future? 

So far, tech companies largely focussed on peripheral topics in healthcare like appointment booking, practice management, e-pharmacy etc. However, AI is increasingly becoming a viable way to bridge the gap in doctor-patient ratio and help the doctor become 4x to 5x more efficient.

With streamlined data collection and analysis, we can make very powerful domain specific, AI-driven diagnosis tools that will help the doctors and patients. We see that this will be the dominant approach for tech companies in the next five to ten years.

Most of your investors are from Japan and Southeast Asia. Why did you decide to go to investors from Japan and SEA rather than India? Also, why do you think startups from India are increasingly getting funded by Japanese and SEA funds?

As a startup we keep engaging with different investors all the time. We found in SBI and  Beenext the match of long-term vision and deep tech focus to solve hard problems like healthcare delivery. We hope to benefit from their global perspective and long term support.

Japan and other SEA countries are seeing the huge potential in India. Adoption of technology by consumers makes India a great learning ground. There is no other market where mobile technology and internet-based businesses has taken off so well. Investors who have realised this trend are diverting funds towards Indian startups.

How a partnership with SBI Holdings benefit you in the long term? What synergies do you have with them? What about Beenext etc?

SBI Goup has several AI and blockchain-related investments globally and we hope to benefit from that global perspective in shaping mfine. Beenext has been a prolific investor in India and brings in several important collaborations that are possible within and outside India that can help accelerate various aspects of our business.

Does India face a shortage of AI talent?

Actually, India is having a huge pool of ML and Data science engineers and as a startup, we are able to find the talent that’s required for us.

What are your plans for the next 12 months?

Over 100,000 customers have consulted on mfine in the last 15 months and customer base is growing 30 per cent month over month. More than 500 MD/MS doctors, including some of India’s top doctors from over 100 reputed hospitals practice across 20 specialties on mfine. Our customers belong to over 800 towns in India.

Also Read: Artificial Intelligence can democratise healthcare access in India, says Manish Singhal of Pi Ventures

In the next 12 months, we are hoping to onboard over 2,500 doctors from 250 hospitals and reach 150,000 monthly consultations.

Both founders were part of Myntra’s core team. But now you two are into a separate industry altogether. What learnings did you carry with you to mfine?

We come from the experience of building tech-driven consumer internet platforms. All the learnings of building from scratch and scaling such platforms, building the right organisation and culture are important and applicable again at mfine.

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Image Credit: mfine

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Mumbai-based Habitro Labs is planning to manufacture own IoT-based home automation products and is in talks for funding to set up a plant

A year ago, when Mrinal Kashyap, a Leasing Manager at Indian ride-hailing company Ola, wanted to automate his three bedroom home in Mumbai, he could not find any reliable products in the market. There were some local products, but were sub-standard and not worth investing his hard-earned money in.

“I could not risk trusting domestic products, which I knew were of low quality and mostly white-labeled Chinese products,” he told e27. “International products are much better but costly. They cannot be trusted with after-sales services as they don’t have a presence in India. This forces customers like me to rely on small retailers for such products as well as for after-sales service. This often ends up in extreme disappointment. We want to change this.”

With this mission in mind, Kashyap started working on the concept of an affordable home automation solution after quitting Ola in September 2018. Two months later, he set up Habitro Labs out of Mumbai.

Also Read: Aime is not just a home automation solution, but can help you book a cab, track fitness and save energy too

Kashyap, a serial entrepreneur, launched the startup, with his former colleague (who is still an employee) at Ola. Kashyap has built a couple of startups in the past. His last venture MyShipMate got acquired by Parcelled.in back in 2015. Later, he moved to head the Mumbai operations of Meru Cabs, before joining Ola.

In its current form, Habitro Labs runs a marketplace, which also doubles up as a network of small dealers and shops, spread across tier-1 cities in India. Habitro’s marketplace (not a typical online marketplace) allows you to connect with the best home automation companies.

“Habitro enables customers to raise queries on our marketplace, and we will do the initial discussions with the customer to understand his/her requirement. Once the deal is closed, the installation part will be taken care of by our dealers,” he explained. “We strive to maintain quality and customer satisfaction. So we will blacklist and remove dealers who sell low-quality or counterfeit products, or who are unprofessional. Also, the after-sales is insured by Habitro through our big network of dealers.”

The venture targets both B2C and B2B segments. “As for B2C, home automation products are mostly sold when someone buys a home or does a renovation of his existing one. Most of these leads come through offline channels. For this, Habitro has partnered with architects, builders, interior designers, and realtors,” he stated.

At the most basic level, home automation systems are made up of three elements: a smart device, a hub, and a connected application. Be it voice-activated rooms, digital room keys and interactive entertainment unit for hotels; or smart visitor management, voice-controlled home, app-controlled home, smart door bell, and smart door lock, Habitro finds you the best products from the best global brands as per your requirements.

Basic plans start at INR 40,000 (US$571) and it stretches to a few lakhs (1 lakh = US$1,429) depending on the requirements.

“Deep at heart, we are an Internet of Things (IoT) company that designs, tests, and deploys automation in homes, hotels, offices, and residential societies using our patent pending proprietary technology. The panoramic idea revolves around creating a smart community with endless possibilities of connecting and controlling your appliances on the go. We give you an intelligent ecosystem and smarter living by creating software, fabricating hardware, and connecting those two through Artificial Intelligence,” he said.

“We started off with a marketplace model as we didn’t have the financial resources to manufacture our own products,” added Kashyap. “We are now looking to set up our own manufacture products and create own brand, something similar to Amazon Alexa, a virtual assistant developed by the global e-commerce giant. This way, we will be able to keep cost low and increase our product line. Our aim is to create products for the masses, not just for the elite.”

Generally, products imported from European Union and the US are the best in the market. In Kashyap’s view, it is not just the quality but it is also their features that make western products more appealing. He also argues that domestic products are WiFi-based and poor signal strength could affect their performance, whereas foreign products come equipped with Z-Wave (a wireless communication protocol) and Zigbee (a wireless technology) and KNX (communication protocol), which effectively addresses such issues.

“More over, power consumption is higher in domestic products. Plus, they are vulnerable to a wide range of security exploitations and attacks. On the other hand, every Z-Wave network and its products have unique IDs for communicating with your hub, in addition to the AES-128 encryption. And there are over 700 companies under Z-Wave alliance and all are compatible with each other since those are using the same protocol. So, even if company A shuts down, you could always use the product of company B, C or D,” Kashyap said.

Kashyap is also believes that domestic products produce higher radiation than the maximum permissible limit. “Our responsibility is to give the best in terms of product quality, after-sales service, safety and security, in terms of how the data is generated and where it is getting stored.”

Habitro is currently in discussion with a few investors and well-known entrepreneurs to raise investments, which will help it expand its product line, increase use cases, and reduce costs, besides setting up its own manufacturing plant. “Here, I would like to quote Jeff Bezoz on something that describes our mission: ‘there are two kinds of companies; those who work to try to charge more and those who work to charge less’. We want to be the latter.”

Also Read: Excited for IoT and home automation? Here are the benefits of a smart, connected home

Kashyap feels that while home automation is not new in India, the industry is not receiving enough attention because of the lack of awareness and use cases, as well as the higher pricing. The entry of Amazon Echo and Google Home, however, has helped.

Now, even the middle class households in tier-1 cities have started automating their homes, which was — until recently — an exclusive domain of the upper-class segment. The dip in product pricing has also helped.

“We now have a favourable atmosphere, but sadly no local companies have emerged to become the face of home automation in India. We are trying to become one,” he concluded.

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TokoTalk is a chat-based e-commerce platform built specifically for online sellers on social media such as Instagram

Updates: Included new details of the company’s plan following the funding round.

Indonesian social commerce platform TokoTalk today announced a US$3.2 million in funding from Silicon Valley-based Altos Ventures.

Owned by South Korean tech startup Codebrick, TokoTalk is a chat-based e-commerce platform built specifically for online sellers on social media such as Instagram and messenger platforms such as WhatsApp.

According to Indonesia’s Ministry of Finance, 64 per cent of all e-commerce transactions occurred through social media. The TokoTalk platform aims to make this process more simple through integration of its service with various social media platforms.

With TokoTalk, customers can view catalogues, pay for orders, as well receive order and shipping confirmation.

For the sellers, TokoTalk offers a platform that enables simpler order and inventory management through the use of a chatbot.

Also Read: Today’s tech news, January 16: Glassdoor lands in Singapore, Golden Gate Ventures backs Indonesia’s Sampingan

In a press statement, the startup said that it plans to “strengthen” its features, particularly payment processes and marketing tools.

“Those improvements are hoped to lead to an increase in the number of transactions, up to US$20 million per month in orders and being a significant player in the social commerce platform market in Indonesia,” it wrote.

In an email to e27, TokoTalk spokeperson explained that in addition to developing automated payments confirmation system, the startup also plans to build partnership with more courier services and integrate its service with marketplaces following the funding round.

“We are also planning to build an education centre in several areas that can be accessed easily by the sellers, e.g in a wholesale market such as Tanah Abang. To help and support the sellers to increase their sales is our main mission,” she wrote.

Launched in March 2018, TokoTalk claimed to have more than 100,000 online sellers on board.

Also Read: Altos Ventures invests US$2M in video messenger startup Hyperconnect

It has recorded US$2 million in monthly sales in March 2019 which resulted in a US$10 million order transaction for one year after its launch.

In Indonesia, the TokoTalk operations is led by Director of Operations Nesya Vanessa.

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Image Credit: TokoTalk

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The new co-investors are Elev8.VC, Golden Gate Ventures, GREE Ventures, ST Engineering Ventures, and Verge Capital Management

SGInnovate has named five new co-investors that will join the company to “further strengthen the ability to assess and invest in exciting deep tech startups at the earliest stage”.

The five names are Elev8.VC, Golden Gate Ventures with its blockchain dedicated fund LuneX Ventures, GREE Ventures, ST Engineering Ventures, and Verge Capital Management. All are said to have been selected through a stringent process based on their investment track record, financial strength, management team capabilities, as well as the adequacy of facilities and resources.

“Coming from the private sector, these new co-investors add breadth and depth to our capabilities in areas such as MedTech, and help us better pursue our mission to work with scientist-entrepreneurs to build and scale high potential, early-stage deep tech startups founded in Singapore,” said Steve Leonard, Founding CEO, SGInnovate.

Aside from selecting new co-investors, SGInnovate also took part in the seed investment round to Merkle Science, led by LuneX Ventures. This would make it the first deal to be completed with
a newly-appointed co-investor.

Combining off-chain and on-chain data for better analysis, Merkle Science works with law enforcement agencies and blockchain companies to provide a risk-monitoring solution to detect and prevent the illegal use of digital currencies.

Also Read: Leisure marketplace SelenaGO raises seed funding from UMG Idealab

This funding round was also joined by Kenetic, Digital Currency Group, and Entrepreneur First.

“With digital assets moving more into the mainstream, KYC (Know Your Customer) and AML (Anti-Money Laundering) compliance are becoming increasingly important. Merkle Science will make it easier for all players in the ecosystem to be regulatory compliant and prevent any fraudulent activity from happening,” said Kenrick Drijkoningen, Managing Partner, LuneX
Ventures.

The five new partners join 17 other SGInnovate co-investors that were first announced in December 2017. Apart from the injection of capital, SGInnovate and its partners also provide strategic and management guidance to help early-stage deep tech startups grow their business and expand into new markets.

Since its inception in November 2016, SGInnovate has invested in more than 50 deep
tech startups, through a mix of direct investments and co-investments under Startup SG Equity.
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The company group plans to build the regional ecosystem with the investment

Golden Equator group, the Singapore-based group of businesses covering financial services, consultancy, and technology, announced that it has raised US$18 million (S$24.6 million) investment from Asia Pacific and Middle East angel investors.

This is the first investment the group has ever received, led by renowned entrepreneur-investor Taizo Son, who’s also a founder of Mistletoe. A host of other angel investors came from Japan, Korea, UAE, Qatar, Indonesia, Brunei, Taiwan, and Singapore who are a mix of members of the royal families, Chairmen of large MNCs, C-level executives from sovereign wealth funds, and academics

The company said that the investment will be directed toward building the regional innovation ecosystem. It will also enable the ecosystem builder’s business evolution, including overseas expansions, to continue using Singapore as a base to connect the broader Asia Pacific and Middle East.

“These angels’ strategic investment demonstrates that they understand the importance of and support our ecosystem-building efforts. By connecting the different communities in the region, we want to harness the synergy that will enable us to bring about changes that are relevant for the future together,” said Shirley Crystal Chua, Founder and Group CEO of Golden Equator.

The group is founded by Chua in 2012. The companies include traditional financial services businesses, but claim to continue upgrading by adapting and innovating new technologies, as well as technology-based businesses, which it continues to invest in.

Also Read: Indonesian social commerce platform TokoTalk raises US$3.2M

Golden Equator currently serves clients in 12 countries with covering 10 markets. Its fully-owned subsidiaries are a fund management company Golden Equator Capital, a multi-family office Golden Equator Wealth, a fintech for personal finance management platform Asia Finance, a digital and tech-focused business consultancy Golden Equator Consulting, and workspace SPECTRUM.

The investment follows Golden Equator’s announcement of Taizo Son as its Group Special Advisor in January 2018. The intention of the appointment is to bring together individuals, businesses, and government-level agencies to build a dynamic business ecosystem centred on technology and innovation, that create a social impact.

The Group also officially launched SPECTRUM in January 2018, which is now home to Taizo Son and his venture Mistletoe’s global headquarter.

On May 6, Golden Equator’s multi-family office (Golden Equator Wealth) will also be launching its NextGen Programme and its Family Office publication. The program aims to mould next-generation members of business families into future leaders through a customised curriculum across finance, wealth management, entrepreneurship, and leadership development.
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Image Credit: Golden Equator Group

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Do you consider yourself a diehard Marvel fan? It might be worth a ticket to Echelon!

Avengers: Endgame is out and we are here to spoil everything! Jokes, your humble author won’t be able to see it for a few weeks.

But we did think we would have some fun in the moment and provide an opportunity to nab some tickets to Echelon.

Here is how it works. We will provide three clues to a ‘name the character’ trivia question. The answer to the question is a promo code for free Echelon tickets.

Important: You must enter it in the format of E27-XXXXX . Make sure it is spelt with capital letters. If you have questions, comment in the section below this article and we will answer your queries.

Guess this Marvel character

Clue #1: He is not the most savoury of men, his job is immoral, but he is a happy man. You can tell because he whistles while he works.

Clue #2: He raised the man who would go on to save the universe on multiple occasions. If you ask him, he would say it was because, “he was small and could fit into places a grown man can’t go”.

Clue #3: If roses are red, this man is a violet.

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The partnership will have Grab invest in Ninja Van and enable GrabExpress to offer intercity parcel delivery and other courier options

Logistics tech company Ninja Van announced a partnership with Grab Inc., seeking to empower small-medium sellers and social commerce communities through a logistics network expansion with intercity parcel delivery and other courier options.

With the partnership, Ninja Van’s logistics services will be integrated on the Grab app via GrabExpress, Grab’s on-demand parcel, and courier delivery service, sometime in the current quarter.

As part of the strategic partnership, Grab has invested in Ninja Van. Ninja Van will also work towards adopting GrabPay across its platform and collaborate to roll-out lending and insurance products offered by Grab Financial Group to its merchants and delivery partners.

It will also include more options like nationwide scheduled deliveries for GrabExpress.

GrabExpress is currently available in 150 cities across Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, and Indonesia.

On the other hand, as a last-mile logistics company, Ninja Van said that it’s covering more than 450 cities across the region, connecting sellers and shoppers in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, and Indonesia.

Also Read: Golden Equator Group of Singapore raises US$18M led by Taizo Son

“By leveraging Grab’s wide user base, we can offer users the most convenient way to access our full suite of logistics services, and provide reliable, hassle-free delivery services powered by technology,” said Lai Chang Wen, Co-Founder, and CEO, Ninja Van.

The service will be rolled out in phases across the region.
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Two simple ways to determine whether your startup idea is ready to take off —or not

The startup life is very attractive to many and it tends to attract too many ambitious people that ultimately end up hating themselves for even trying to start one.

More and more university graduates in Southeast Asia are opting the entrepreneurial path following their graduation; many do not even wait until their graduation to begin. But success remains the exception instead of the rule, and many of the companies they have founded failed to last beyond the first year.

Entrepreneurship is very much like a theatrical performance, in the way that people tend to not see what goes on backstage.

So this let’s take a peek behind those curtains and understand what it takes to build and run a sustainable startup. Why is this important? In case you haven’t realised, 90 per cent of startups fail within the first year. If that is new information to you, strap in as we enlighten you on the two reasons why startups have failed and whether you have what it takes to succeed.

Also Read: 3 startups shaping AI in Southeasia Asia

Market

Ambitious human has an idea, they start working on the idea and development of the product or service. Once they start trying to sell, they realise no one is catching onto what they have built, and soon they find themselves hating what they have created and canning the product or service.

Or worse, they sail that burning ship and go down in flames with it.

According to the Lean Startup methodology, which was pioneered by Eric Ries in his book of the same title, many startups failed to take off simply because founders never take the time speak to their potential customers. About their needs, and how your product can help fulfill these needs. This is a barrier in product development as they never get to find out if there is even a demand for their product.

Be sure to consider whether there is even a need for your product/service.Analyze the market and evaluate the current solutions for what you have in mind.

In addition to conversing with potential customers, doing even a simple SWOT Analysis would be useful to comprehend the market need.

It is also important to understand who your potential competitors –and what you get to offer to differ yourself from them.

Also Read: Check out the 6 sizzling startups that pitched at MOX Demo Day batch 5

Money

So you found a need for your product in the market? Great! Now, have you considered all aspects of the finances required?

Taking into account how much you have on you right now, would you have enough to keep the business afloat for at least 12 months? How about three years? Do you need more cash to fund your operations?

Alexander Jarvis, founder of 50Folds has done a very in depth analysis that talks about understanding and proper utilisation of a runway calculator.

What if you realised that you do not have enough to support your operations? Then it is time to look into other potential sources.

Despite the rise of alternative fundraising methods such as ICOs, venture capital funding remains a popular, go-to method of financing a business for most tech startups.

But make sure to prepare yourself well for it. Not only in terms of the information that you need to provide on your pitch deck, but also the time you will need to pitch –and the time the potential investor will need to get back to you.

Fact: In Southeast Asia, it often takes three to six months for investors to decide whether or not they are even interested to invest. So be prepared for a marathon.

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Image Credit: SpaceX on Unsplash

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